Hallucination
huh-loo-sih-NAY-shunnoun
What it means
A confident falsehood produced by a machine, a word chosen because error would imply someone was responsible.
What it actually means
It made it up.
How it is used in a sentence
"The model hallucinated a citation, so we're adding guardrails."
Filed under
Digital Existentialism — Ideas that were briefly worth billions, explained by people who are briefly employed.
Euphemism — The phrase hides something specific. We decode it.
Related entries
AI-Powered
Digital Existentialismay-eye POW-erdadjectiveBafflegab
Describes any product containing a text box, a subscription, and a large language model mentioned within earshot of whoever is funding it.
Real meaningWe added a chat box and raised the price.
Vibe Coding
Digital Existentialismvyb KOH-dingnounDiagnosis
The practice of shipping software you cannot read, produced by a machine you cannot question, to users you cannot support.
Real meaningNobody here knows why it works.